Eric

Wagaman

Wagaman augments New York’s paper-thin position player depth after being cut loose by the Twins last week. The 28-year-old is capable of handling a couple different spots across the diamond and has some over-the-fence pop. He’s more of an emergency stopgap option than a long-term project at this stage of his career.

Wagaman, who hit .250/.296/.378 in 514 plate appearances for the Marlins last year, never got a real shot with the Twins as Austin Martin cut him off at the pass. He’s hit .159/.284/.254 for Triple-A St. Paul this year in 74 plate appearances. We’re guessing he’ll clear waivers.

With Austin Martin (concussion) back on track to begin the season with the Twins, Wagaman will head to the minors. That means Kody Clemens will operate as the primary backup first baseman behind Josh Bell. Wagaman had some intriguing batted ball data during his MLB debut last season, and he can play the outfield as well, so he figures to get a chance sometime this season.

His Opening Day would seem to be in jeopardy. Martin was expected to make the Twins as a fourth outfielder starting against most or all left-handers. Eric Wagaman would be the obvious candidate to replace him as a starter against lefties, but he’s not nearly the outfield defender that Martin is.

Given his first big opportunity at age 27, Wagaman hit .250/.296/.378 in 514 plate appearances for the Marlins last season. More encouraging, though, were hit 46.5% hard-hit rate and 19.5% strikeout rate. So, there probably is the potential for more offense here. Still, Wagaman is below average at third and in the outfield and probably needs to be mostly limited to first base. The Twins figure to use him there or at DH against lefties, assuming that he makes the team. One imagines he’ll be competing with Kody Clemens, Edouard Julien and Mickey Gasper for two roster spots. Wagaman and Gasper both have options remaining, whereas the other two do not.

Wagaman’s 46.5% hard-hit rate and 19.5% strikeout rate last season were both pretty encouraging, but they produced only a modest .250/.296/.378 line in what might have been the 28-year-old’s only really good chance to establish himself in the majors. Maybe he’ll get lucky and the Rockies or Nationals will pick him up as a first base option. If not, Asia might be a possibility.

This would seem to be a bit short-sighted since Ramírez has a quality bat and was one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball during his rookie season. He posted a -12 Fielding Runs Value on Statcast and was 63rd out of 63 catchers in Statcast’s Caught Stealing Above Average after throwing out only eight of 76 possible baserunners. De Nicola reports that the Marlins are now considering Eric Wagaman, Heriberto Hernandez, or Connor Norby as internal options at first base.

Wagaman broke a scoreless tie as he drove in Connor Norby with an RBI double off of Ryne Stanek in the fourth inning. That would prove to be the difference in the ballgame. The versatile 28-year-old finishes his 2025 campaign hitting .250/.296/.378 with nine homers and 53 RBI in 514 plate appearances with the Marlins.

The Marlins couldn’t do much against Jesús Luzardo in this one. The one run they did manage to push across was mostly due to an error by Phillies’ third baseman Alec Bohm which put Connor Norby on second base and Wagaman drove him home from there. A player with plus bat speed and contact rates, Wagaman could wind up as a deep sleeper in 2026 should he wind up with steady playing time.

Wagaman delivered a run-scoring single off of MacKenzie Gore in the opening inning that extended the Marlins’ early lead to 2-0. He then added a pair of valuable insurance runs with a two-run double in the eighth inning and scored on a sacrifice fly. With his three-hit attack, the 28-year-old infielder is now slashing .244/.294/.378 with nine homers, 48 RBI and three stolen bases in 476 plate appearances on the season.